Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Beiranvand is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
13 combined actions and 6.48. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.49 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rah Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rah Ahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rah Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rah Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rah Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ibrahim Al Naqbi has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
24 appearances at Esteghlal Ahvaz, an average of 6.09, and two clubs quietly wishing they had not bothered. Loans are supposed to answer questions; this one only added them.
The words a physio says slowly. 146 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Beiranvand is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Rah Ahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sepahan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Adib Zarei was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Aria Yousefi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Beiranvand is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I watch every Rah Ahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sepahan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Rah Ahan have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Ehsan Karimi again, and this time the name on the line is Sepahan. Rah Ahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Pejman Jahanbakhsh has his answer from Rah Ahan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pejman Noorafkan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad22 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ahmad Dejagah's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rah Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ahmad Dejagah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Omid Khodadad falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ehsan Karimi. 1‑0 against Siah Jamegan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 26 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rah Ahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Omid Khodadad was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pejman Noorafkan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Rah Ahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Naft Tehran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Vouria Torabi obliged against Foolad. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Rah Ahan.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Pejman Ebrahimi decided nobody was going anywhere. Saba had no time left to answer.
The bid was some way short and Rah Ahan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Vouria Torabi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.11
A mark of 8.11 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Marked 6.36 on 17 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ahmad Dejagah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omid Khodadad is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Rah Ahan, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ahmad Dejagah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Zargham Saadavi, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.77
A mark of 8.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 5.66. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ahmad Dejagah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Getting past Ali Beiranvand has become the hardest job in the division
13 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ahmad Dejagah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Rah Ahan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Cabrera is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Rah Ahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Naft Tehran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ali Beiranvand has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rah Ahan, another week without a signature from Luis Cabrera.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rah Ahan has been clear about where Ehsan Karimi stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, Pejman Ebrahimi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Rah Ahan and Gostaresh Foulad.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ehsan Karimi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Position 1, 28 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alireza Nekounam will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rah Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ali Beiranvand has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vahid Beiranvand, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Karimi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and Rah Ahan are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Esteghlal? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Rah Ahan have gone and got theirs early.